Category: Recent picks

With an increasing focus on ‘top ten’ type destinations and planning, sometimes we forget that the best places to visit are often those along the road less travelled. Our latest books hope to inspire readers to trust the adventure and thrill of discovery. A few of our picks show a new side to popular destinations, while others give some first-hand perspective on how we can open our hearts and minds to the wonder of wherever we may end up.

Green nomads, wild places / Brown, Bob
“Visit some of the most remote and beautiful places of south and west Australia in Green Nomads Wild Places, Bob Brown and partner Paul Thomas’s three-month adventure across Australia. They floated in hidden harbours and on ancient rivers, climbed over age-old rock formations, and camped at isolated Bush Heritage Australia properties. Bob Brown and Paul Thomas remind us how extraordinary and diverse is our natural world.” (Catalogue)

Rediscovering travel : a guide for the globally curious / Kugel, Seth
“An indispensable companion for rookie and veteran travelers alike that promises to revolutionize both how and why we vacation. Woven throughout with vivid tales of his perfectly imperfect adventures, Rediscovering Travel explains–often hilariously–how to make the most of new digital technologies without being shackled to them… Kugel shows how we too can rediscover the joy of discovery.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Sicilian splendors : discovering the secret places that speak to the heart / Keahey, John
“Sicilian Splendors explores the history, politics, food, Mafia, and people which John Keahey encounters throughout his travels during his return to Sicily. Through conversing with natives and immersing himself in culture, Keahey illustrates a brand new Sicily no one has ever talked about before. Keahey not only serves as a guide through the marvel of Sicily’s identity, but he also looks deeply into Sicily’s soul.” (Catalogue)

Off the rails : a train trip through life / Severgnini, Beppe
“In this witty and entertaining collection of travel tales, an acclaimed journalist explores what his rail journeys have taught him about culture and identity.Filled with memorable characters and perceptive observations, it demonstrates–hilariously–what unites us.” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Japan Just for You, Denise Stephens (ebook)
“Japan Just for You is for people wanting to create their own trip to Japan instead of doing someone else’s ‘must-see’ itinerary. Learn how to put your trip together, including how to make choices and decisions on your itinerary. There are some extremely popular and world-famous places which you may want to visit, or you may want to see the less-explored regions, or perhaps a bit of both.” (Overdrive description)

Alone Time, Stephanie Rosenbloom (ebook)
“Travel writer Stephanie Rosenbloom explores the joys and benefits of being alone in four mouth-watering journeys to the cities of Paris, Istanbul, Florence and New York. This is a book about the pleasures and benefits of savouring the moment, examining things closely, using all your senses to take in your surroundings, whether travelling to faraway places or walking the streets of your own city.” (Overdrive description)

Lands of Lost Borders, Kate Harris (ebook)
Lands of Lost Borders, winner of the 2018 Banff Adventure Travel Award, is the chronicle of Harris’s odyssey. Lands of Lost Borders explores the nature of limits and the wildness of the self that can never fully be mapped. Lands of Lost Borders celebrates our connection as humans to the natural world, and ultimately to each other—a belonging that transcends any fences or stories that may divide us.” (Adapted from Overdrive description)

Road trips, wine trails, waterfalls and more make up this list of the latest travel books. From books on New Zealand and what you can do in our backyard to going across the oceans to the most exotic destination, there is no shortage of ideas to inspire your next adventure. 2019 plans perhaps?

Wild journeys : New Zealand’s famous & infamous, historic & off-the-beaten-path journeys, tracks, routes & passages / Ansley, Bruce
“Discover a world of wild, mysterious and audacious journeys. In Wild Journeys, Bruce Ansley retraces the path of the doomed surveyor John Whitcombe across the Southern Alps, follows the raiding party of the northern chief Te Puoho along the West Coast, sails around New Zealand’s northern and southern capes; walks through the Valley under the Two Thumb Range to the mythical Mesopotamia; drives from Waiheke to Wanaka (in a hurry), sets off on a hunt for the South Island’s Grey Ghost, looks deep into the heart of volcanic New Zealand and tracks our most unlikely hero, the prison escaper George Wilder.” (Catalogue)

Destinations
“For the first time, Gourmet Traveller has compiled a collection of its most dazzling travel photography. Visit some of the world’s most beautiful & exotic places through the lenses of the world’s finest photographers. The book traverses the globe making stops along the banks of the Yangzi River, on the streets of Cuba and at the grand turquoise minarets of Uzbekistan. Immerse yourself in the architecture, the food and the culture of the places you’ve been to and the ones you long to visit. A visual feast on every page.” (Catalogue)

The bucket list wild : 1000 adventures big and small : animals, birds, fish, nature / Stathers, Kath“The Bucket List: Wild is a collection of 1,000 incredIble encounters with the natural world, to be experienced across every continent, from whale watching in the Pacific to snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, and feeding pandas in China to riding with wild horses in France. Alongside the beautiful photographs there is helpful information on how you can support conservation efforts, and advice on how to behave around wild animals. The most complete life list yet to the world’s best places to see wildlife-both on and off the beaten path.” (Catalogue)

Wine trails, USA & Canada / Hausman, Ashley
“Following the success of Wine Trails, we now bring you 40 perfect weekends in North American wine country, introducing vineyards in regions including Sonoma, Walla Walla, Finger Lakes, Texas Hill Country and Okanagan, as well as celebrating secret gems off the beaten path.” (Catalogue)

Let’s get lost : great New Zealand road trips / McCloy, Nicola
“Let’s Get Lost is a guide to the real New Zealand that few of us get a chance to explore. In its pages, you’ll pass through the sausage capital of New Zealand, take a dip in a secret lake, visit a village entirely populated by guinea pigs, share a yarn with many a local good bugger – and so much more.” (Catalogue)

A geek in Indonesia : discover the land of Komodo dragons, Balinese healers and dangdut music / Hannigan, Tim
“For anyone wanting to get beyond tired travel guide cliches, A Geek in Indonesia is a hip, irreverent and streetwise introduction to Southeast Asia’s biggest country. Packed with lively articles on everything from office and cafe culture to food, dating rituals and TV soap operas, this Indonesian travel guide is a delightful read for backpackers, first-time visitors, newly-arrived expats, long-time Indonesiaphiles–and anyone else seeking fresh insight into a culture and a country that is now an emerging economic powerhouse and one of the world’s most captivating travel destinations” (Adapted from Catalogue)

Places we swim : exploring Australia’s best beaches, pools, waterfalls, lakes, hot springs and gorges / Seitchik-Reardon, Dillon
“From lap pools to ocean pools, rockpools to hot springs, Places We Swim covers the breadth of Australia, bringing you the 60 best places to swim, dive, jump, paddle and float around the country. You’ll discover just what makes each swimming spot unique, learn the best time to go, gain some useful local knowledge and find out the best things to see and do in the area. With destinations ranging from the neighbourhood pool to remote outback waterfalls, this book is a celebration of not just these magnificent swimming spots, but of the diverse landscapes and communities that make up Australia.” (Catalogue)

Spring back into the joys of travel with a collection of new titles at Wellington City Libraries. Plan a trip with friends, family and loved ones alike as this list of books will have you falling in love with travel all over again. Dine like royalty with parents, siblings and children in the best food spots the world knows. Treat your someone special to a romantic getaway for your anniversary, or just because you can. Or just hit the open road with friends and see the quiet towns and sleepy suburbs.

The honeymoon handbook / written by Sarah Baxter [and 17 others].
“Lonely Planet’s first dedicated honeymoon guide is packed with advice for travel-lovers who want their honeymoon their way: no all-inclusive in sight here. Set your heart racing with real adventures, tailored to what you two love the most – whether that’s wildlife-spotting on the African savannah, cruising around Havana in one of Cuba’s legendary vintage American cars or diving with turtles in Bali. Whether you’re after ideas for a classic trip or for more offbeat honeymoon suggestions, we’ve got you covered. See ancient temples in Myanmar, eat exquisite Michelin-starred meals in Tokyo, or surf the rolling Pacific waves at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

The best things in life are free : the ultimate money-saving travel guide / Isabel Albiston [and 39 others] ; foreword written by Tom Hall.
“Lonely Planet’s The Best Things in Life are Free is packed full of money-saving tips, tricks and recommendations for the best-value sights and experiences around the world. From parks, museums and exercise classes that are free, to insider ideas on food and experiences offered at great value, this book features over 60 major cities around the world and promises to help any traveller on a budget to make the most of their trip. Includes parks and gardens, street markets and food trucks, viewing points, museums and galleries, free experiences, spectator sports, city beaches, and much more. Happy travels!” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

Food trails : plan 52 perfect weekends in the world’s tastiest destinations.
“For everyone who loves travel and trying the local delicacies, this beautifully illustrated hardback is the must-have handbook to a year’s worth of perfect weekends around the world for food lovers. Featured trails include the an homage to Buenos Aires steak, cozy wintertime French Canadian cuisine, Puglia’s distinctive dishes, and Parisian patisserie. Each trail is an itinerary, detailing when and where to indulge in the local specialties. There are 52 trails, each with gorgeous photography, a bespoke map, expert writing and practical details of how to get there and where to stay.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

Do not disturb! : heavenly honeymoon retreats / Manuela Roth ; translation: Judith Vonberg.
“The crowning finale of every wedding is the honeymoon, which belongs to it as much as the bouquet and the cake. Romantic accommodations in dreamy surroundings are the best setting for the – hopefully perfect – first days of life together. Whether chic and urban in an international metropolis, at a luxurious resort on a Caribbean beach, or on a safari through the African wilderness: this volume presents a great variety of destinations for a honeymoon. The hand-picked selection offers wonderful solutions to all newlywed’s wishes – whether to be on cloud nine 24/7, to plan the future, or to simply forget the stress and strain of planning a wedding….” (Syndetics summary)

Lonely Planet’s best in travel 2017 / written by James Bainbridge [and 33 others]
“Where is the best place to visit right now, at this very moment in travel history? This is the most hotly contested topic at Lonely Planet and dominates more conversations than any other. We pose this question to everyone at Lonely Planet, from our authors and editors, all the way to our online family of bloggers and tweeters. When Lonely Planet talks the rest of the world listens. That’s why tourist boards all over the world await its top 10 lists with bated breath – inclusion practically guarantees a bumper year.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

50 states, 5,000 ideas : where to go, when to go, what to see, what to do / text by Joe Yogerst.
“This richly illustrated book from the travel experts at National Geographic showcases the best travel experiences in every state, from the obvious to the unexpected. Sites include national parks, beaches, hotels, Civil War battlefields, dude ranches, out-of-the-way museums, and more. You’ll discover the world’s longest yard sale in Tennessee, swamp tours in Louisiana, dinosaur trails in Colorado, America’s oldest street in NYC, and the best spot to watch for sea otters on the central California coast. In addition to 50 states in the U.S., the book includes a section on the Canadian provinces and territories.” (Syndetics summary)

The 50 greatest road trips of the world / Sarah Woods.
“If you’ve ever dreamed of completing an epic car journey, The 50 Greatest Road Trips is for you. Packed full of the most exotic, exciting and iconic road trips across the Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa, it showcases the ultimate in car adventures. Sarah Woods is a veteran of road-tripping, having driven the iconic 19,000-mile route from North America to South America’s tip, completed several dusty voyages in the Australian outback and scaled towering Saharan sand dunes ina 4×4. Readers are sure to feel the urge to climb into an old Chevrolet, crank up the tunes on the stereo, flick the sunroof open and settle back for one heck of a ride on the open road …” (Syndetics summary)

This month’s travel picks get a little less glamorous with Top Deck buses across Europe, barbecued rats in Ho Chi Minh City, and ignoring good advice from friends while encountering trouble in South America. Fortunately that’s balanced out with books containing great advice for kids in London, unique locations in Edinburgh and Paris, the best photographs in Scotland, and the joy of travelling slowly.

Family London : fun days out with children from tots to teens / Jimi Famurewa ; photographs by Camille Mack.
“From the best museums and galleries to the perfect playgrounds and cafes, Family London handpicks the very best things to do in London with tots, teens and everything in between. Come rain or shine, this complete insider’s guide to one of the best cities in the world will help you plan a day out to remember – and there’s something for everyone, from toddlers and teenagers to adults who are just big kids at heart.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

Crossing continents with Top Deck : the travel revolution of the 70s – 90s / written and illustrated by Trevor Carroll.
“Top Deck double deckers offered a revolutionary form of long-distance transport from the 70s to the 90s. The large Bristish Lodekkas carried under 35’s over vast distances through SE Asia, the Middle East and Australia in a new kind of no frills adventure tourism. Taken on by Top Deck as a double decker bus driver in early 1977, Trevor Carroll took European tours for a year before he was set loose on his first overland tour. Trevor describes his exciting and sometimes harrowing experiences on six overland trips as both driver and courier.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

So happiness to meet you : foolishly, blissfully stranded in Vietnam / Karin Esterhammer.
“After job losses and the housing crash, the author and her family leave L.A. to start over in a most unlikely place: a nine-foot-wide back-alley house in one of Ho Chi Minh City’s poorest districts, where neighbors unabashedly stare into windows, generously share their barbecued rat, keep cockroaches for luck, and ultimately help her find joy without Western trappings.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

111 places in Paris that you shouldn’t miss / Sybil Canac, Renée Grimaud, Katia Thomas.
“You think you know Paris inside out? Then let yourself be surprised by this book. Written by three true connoisseurs, it tells you the secrets of the city. Curiosities, secret gardens, unknown museums, arts centers or very special hotels – with this book you discover Paris off the beaten path, its hidden treasures, its legends, its stories.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

Miss adventures : a tale of ignoring life advice while backpacking around South America / Amy Baker.
“Having announced her plans to quit her job and backpack around South America, humorist and gonzo journalist Amy Baker found herself on the receiving end of a whole bunch of over-the-top and seemingly unnecessary advice. Amy shrugged it all off of course–that is, until she ran into trouble. After falling into a crevasse, swimming in crocodile-infested waters, dodging cocaine con artists and encountering handsome soothsayers, Amy soon starts to wonder if her mother, her boss, and Carol from reception really were onto something.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

Scotland : the best 100 places / Peter Irvine.
“This personal and diverse compendium is illustrated with beautiful and evocative images by some of Scotland’s best photographers. Peter Irvine has drawn on a lifetime of experiences to create this list of the 100 best places in Scotland: reflective, magnificent and human places. As well as expert commentary, all 100 places include highly selective recommendations of where to walk, eat and sleep nearby. From wild glens to ancient buildings, remote islands to vibrant cities, this is Pete’s list of the places in Scotland that you really should visit in your lifetime.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

Travelling light : journeys among special people and places / Alastair Sawday.
“Travelling Light is a gradual awakening to the fragility of everything we love through contemplative, consciously slow journeying. Every visit uncovers difference – from France profonde to the darker side of Sicily, and to the woodland, flora, fauna, views and silence of rural Britain. Alastair Sawday gives voice to those of us who have climbed no mountains, discovered no rivers, created no great institutions, powered no legislation, changed very little – but who yearn to understand the world and make sense of its infinite variety.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

This month, discover Paris and London in very different ways. Janice MacLeod’s A Paris Year is a love letter to Paris (in illustrations and words) through the eyes of an artist. On the flip side, Streets of London : the story behind London’s most famous streets takes a layered approach, uncovering some of London’s fascinating back doubles and alleyways, often passed by and ignored.

In a month of contrasts and different approaches, we also feature two books about Antarctica. Philip Samartzis, author of Antarctica: An Absent Presence, travelled south with the Australian Antarctic Division on several occasions and his recordings of the unique sounds of Antarctica have been used to create soundscape compositions which wrap around the words and images in this book. The flip side here is a personal narrative leading towards the icy continent from rural America, in Andrew Evans’s The Black Penguin.

Finally we have a literary bent, with the collection of New York Times columns in Footprints examining the locations that influenced famous writers, and The Writer Abroad featuring the actual travel writing of some of the greats.

Antarctica : an absent presence / Philip Samartzis.
“This beautiful volume of soundscape compositions, images and words from Philip Samartzis is an invitation to share in a remarkable journey of enquiry. Antarctica is a paradox of the sublime and prosaic: with its vast expanses of ice, snow and mountains and traces of human habitation, from weathered huts to abandoned machinery. Samartzis travelled south with the Australian Antarctic Division on several occasions and his recordings of the unique sounds of Antarctica have been used to create soundscape compositions which are meticulously realised on three CDs of the music included in this book.” (Fishpond.co.nz)

A Paris year : my day-to-day adventures in the most romantic city in the world / Janice MacLeod.
“Part memoir and part visual journey, A Paris Year chronicles, day by day, one woman’s French sojourn in the world’s most beautiful city. Beginning on her first day in Paris, Janice MacLeod began a journal recording in illustrations and words, nearly every sight, smell, taste, and thought she experienced in the City of Light. The end result is more than a diary: it’s a detailed and colorful love letter to one of the most romantic and historically rich cities on earth. Combining personal observations and anecdotes with stories and facts about famous figures in Parisian history, this visual tale of discovery, through the eyes of an artist, is sure to delight, inspire, and charm.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

The black penguin / Andrew Evans.
“A devout young boy in rural Ohio, Andrew Evans had his life mapped for him: baptism, mission, Brigham Young University, temple marriage, and children of his own. But as an awkward gay kid, bullied and bored, he escaped into the glossy pages of National Geographic and the wide promise of the world atlas. Ejected from church and shunned by his family as a young man, Evans embarks on an ambitious overland journey halfway across the world. Riding public transportation, he crosses swamps, deserts, mountains, and jungles, slowly approaching his lifelong dream and ultimate goal: Antarctica. Evans’s 12,000-mile voyage becomes a soulful quest to balance faith, family, and self, reminding us that, in the end, our lives are defined by the roads we take, the places we touch, and those we hold nearest.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

Streets of London : the story behind London’s most famous streets / Lucy McMurdo.
“With a history going back 2000 years it is hardly surprising that so many of London’s streets are known throughout the globe. Even today several Roman roads pass through the capital, and London’s financial center, The City of London, is full of winding alleys and ancient ways with names from times gone by. Author Lucy McMurdo encourages you to turn off the main trail and discover more of London’s fascinating back doubles and alleyways, so often passed by and ignored.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

Tourist trains guidebook / [from the publishers of Trains magazine ; editor: Randy Rehberg].
“Tourist Trains Guidebook, Sixth Edition describes 500 of the most popular train attractions, museums, and railroad vacation destinations in the U.S. and Canada. A unique travel guide that appeals to train buffs, individuals interested in historic trains and sites, and families looking for kid-friendly vacations. The digest book size offers a portable format that fits inside a backpack or tote. As passenger train travel enjoys a real renaissance today, a comprehensive railroad travel guide will be a valuable addition to your product line.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

The writer abroad : literary travels from Austria to Uzbekistan / selected by Lucinda Hawksley.
“From the grand tour to the global village, novelists and poets have made particularly observant travelers. Many writers have been prone to wanderlust, eager to explore the world and draw inspiration from their travels. They recorded their notes in letters, journals, essays and books. This collection takes us on a literary journey around the world, through extracts from Arthur Conan Doyle in Australia, Aldous Huxley in India, Charles Dickens in Italy, Henry James in France, Mary Wollstonecraft in Sweden, and many more.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

Ways to see Great Britain : curious places & surprising perspectives / text and illustrations by Alice Stevenson.
“Driven by curiosity, restlessness and a desire to better understand her own country, artist Alice Stevenson spent two years exploring and drawing Great Britain. With an eye for the odd and an antenna for the unexpectedly beautiful, she documented her slow, attentive forays. The result is a book celebrating detail, of landscape and architecture, and creativity, an essential human urge. A rich, artistic journey through a land deep in natural and man-made puzzles and wonders.” (Abridged from Syndetics summary)

This month offers a guided tour by countless authors across the varied terrains of Morocco, Syria and Ethiopia. After reading these first hand encounters, make the baby steps towards visiting some of these places yourself with Lonely Planet’s new seasonal compendium Where to Go When, one of it’s more practical tomes, equally as good for drooling at as it is for the meticulous planning of the trip of a lifetime. For more backyard insights, consult the moody waters of Islands and uncover some of the unseen realities of the submerged rocks surrounding the endlessly fascinating archipelago we call Aotearoa and New Zealand.

Morocco : in the labyrinth of dreams and bazaars / by Walter M. Weiss ; translated by Stefan Tobler.
“Walter M. Weiss brings extensive knowledge of the region to bear as he travels the breadth and depth of the country’s social and geographical contrasts. Weiss visits the settings of modern legends, such as Tangier, as well as the two medieval centres Fès and Meknès, and sees earthen kasbahs and Marrakech’s bazaar. On the way, he meets acrobats, Sufi musicians, pilgrims, craftsmen, beatniks, rabbis, and Berber farmers–a kaleidoscope of variety and cultural influence.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The street philosopher and the holy fool : a Syrian journey / Marius Kociejowski.
“The ancient land of Syria remains for many a sinister and forbidding destination, only recently opening up to foreign travellers. Marius Kociejowski presents a completely fresh and unexpected face to this mysterious country. Based on his own visits to Syria, The Street Philosopher and the Holy Fool describes a journey which brings him into contact with a host of colourful and unusual characters, each of whom is an outsider of sorts.” (adapted from Amazon.com summary)

Ethiopia : through writers’ eyes / edited by Yves-Marie Stranger.
“This book is the perfect companion to any exploration of Ethiopia, be it in the precarious saddle of an Abyssinian pony, or from the folds of an armchair. A compendium of all things Ethiopian, the book throws wide-open the precious windows of understanding, allowing you to gaze deeper into the landscape and people with additional wonder.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Inspired journeys : travel writers in search of the muse / edited by Brian Bouldrey.
“Full of humor, profundity, and obsession, these are tales of writers on peregrine paths. Some set out in search of legends or artistic inspiration; others seek spiritual epiphany or fulfillment of a promise. All of these pilgrimages are worthy journeys–redemptive and serious. But a time-honored element of pilgrimage is a suspension of rules, and there is absurdity and exuberance here as well.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Forty shades of white : my amazing Antarctic journey / Ginni Bazlinton.
“Ginni Bazlinton signed up for a voyage to the planet’s fifth largest continent. Antarctica was a vast unknown to her when she set off on the rugged scientific vessel, the Akademik Shokalskiy. For this grandmother ‘from next door’ her encounter with an area known to so few becomes the gateway to a profound attachment to the miracle that is Antarctica and a keener understanding of the Earth and humanity’s ambiguous role within it.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Islands : a New Zealand journey / Bruce Ansley and Jane Ussher.
“New Zealand is surrounded by hundreds of islands, mainly remnants of a larger land mass now beneath the sea. Some are idyllic retreats; others have poignant histories of castaways, prisons and leper colonies. Some have become sanctuaries, safe from destructive predators; some are farmed by fifth and sixth generations of the same family; others are isolated outposts, barely sustaining life at all; while some are hidden where you’d least expect…” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Never put all your eggs in one bastard / Peta Mathias.
“In this ‘memoir of sorts’, Peta looks back at the patterns of her life while she embarks on the next big stage in it- selling her beloved cottage in Auckland to buy a dilapidated old house in Uzos in the south of France and transforming the old wreck into a stylish home and cooking school. Spiced with recipes, the thrills and tribulations of reinventing yourself and her trademark humour, this book is really about never putting all your eggs in one bastard.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

By the seat of my pants / edited by Don George.
“Lonely Planet knows that some of life’s funniest experiences happen on the road. These 31 globegirdling tales that run the gamut from close-encounter safaris to loss-of-face follies, hair-raising rides to culture-leaping brides, eccentric expats to mind-boggling repasts, wrong roads taken to agreements mistaken. The collection brings together some of the world’s most renowned travellers and storytellers with previously unpublished writers.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Delve into this month’s stunning array of new maps and atlases, presenting places familiar and strange in a new light. To start getting lost in these is to start dreaming the existing world anew. With this comes the imperative to go out and uncover the world – whether in your neighbourhood or on the other side of the globe.

Atlas of improbable places : a journey to the world’s most unusual corners / Travis Elborough & Alan Horsfield.
“It is perhaps the eighth wonder of our world that despite modern mapping and satellite photography our planet continues to surprise us. Hidden lairs beneath layers of rock, forgotten cities rising out of deserted lands and even mankind’s own feats of engineering eccentricity lie in the most unusual of destinations. Travis Elborough goes in search of the obscure and bizarre, the beautiful and estranged. Beautiful maps and stunning photography illustrate each hidden place. (adapted from amazon.com)

Curiocity : in pursuit of London / Henry Eliot & Matt Lloyd-Rose.
“Curiocity is the most beautiful and unusual guidebook ever written about London. Structured as an A to Z, its 26 chapters explore the city from all angles, with themes as diverse as crowdedness, sex, gentrification, time, sewers and the occult, illustrated by stunning hand-drawn maps. The 26 maps show show London from a child’s perspective, the airspace above the city, the ground beneath your feet, London reimagined as a giant prison, and much more.” (adapted from amazon.com)

Atlas obscura : an explorer’s guide to the world’s hidden wonders / Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras & Ella Morton.
“Drawing on material from the ever-expanding website of the same name, this ersatz tour guide to the fabulously interesting secret corners of the globe is arranged geographically by continent and country. Whether describing a Canadian museum that showcases world history through shoes, a pet-casket company that will also sell you a unit for your severed limb, a Greek snake festival, or a place in the Canary Islands where inhabitants communicate through whistling, the authors have compiled an enthralling range of oddities. […]” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Great city maps.
“Step onto the streets of cities around the world, and understand the cultures and civilizations that created them with Great City Maps. This beautifully illustrated book explores the world’s most celebrated historical city maps. Richly detailed ancient and modern maps of important cities take you on a journey across the globe in stunning detail, from Athens to Alexandria and Cape Town to Cairo, with close up views of each city’s most intriguing features […]” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Best. state. ever. : a Florida man defends his homeland / Dave Barry.
“Every few months, Dave Barry gets a call from some media person wanting to know, “What the hell is wrong with Florida?” Somehow, the state’s acquired an image as a subtropical festival of stupid, and as a loyal Floridian, Dave begs to differ. Sure, there was the 2000 election. And people seem to take their pants off for no good reason. And it has flying insects the size of LeBron James. But it is a great state, and Dave is going to tell you why. Join him as he celebrates Florida from Key West at the bottom to whatever it is that’s at the top, from the Sunshine State’s earliest history to the fun-fair of weirdness that it is today.” (adapted from amazon.com)

Our delicious adventure : recipes and stories of food and travel / Jane Grover
“Yearning to break with the routine of the everyday, Jane Grover and her family spent a season exploring Australia’s southern coastline from Sydney to Perth and recorded their adventures in delicious, juicy detail. Join her as she gathers cockles on the Fleurieu Peninsula, nets blue swimmer crabs in Streaky Bay, savours local raspberries from the Albany Farmers’ Market and eats freshly shucked oysters from the shoreline of Bruny Island in Tasmania.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Crossing the Congo : over land and water in a hard place / Mike Martin, Chloe Baker, Charlie Hatch-Barnwell.“In 2013, three friends set off on a journey that they had been told was impossible: the north-south crossing of the Congo River Basin, from Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Juba, in South Sudan. […] Crossing the Congo is an offbeat travelogue, a story of friendship and what it takes to complete a great journey against tremendous odds, and an intimate look into one of the world’s least-developed and most fragile states, told with humor and sensitivity.” (adapted from amazon.com)

Let this month’s travel picks take you on a stroll. Take a meander through a damp and ephemeral landscape in Rain, test walking upside down in But What If We’re Wrong? all while being careful to not drop off the ‘edge of the Earth’ in Maps That Changed the World.

Pinpoint : how GPS is changing technology, culture, and our minds / Greg Milner.
“Greg Milner takes us on a fascinating tour of a hidden system that touches almost every aspect of our modern life. While GPS has brought us breathtakingly accurate information about our planetary environment and physical space, it has also created new forms of human behavior. We have let it saturate the world’s systems so completely and so quickly that we are just beginning to confront the possible consequences.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Maps that changed the world / edited by O. E. Clark ; introduction by Professor Jeremy Black.
“From beautifully engraved sixteenth-century Dutch maps to sinister Nazi maps, this stunning compendium features some of the most famous cartography ever created. Stretching back to when explorers feared dropping off the “edge of the world.” Organized chronologically, the collection shows the evolution of map-making from all corners of the globe.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Rain : four walks in English weather / Melissa Harrison.
“An evocative meditation on the English landscape in wet weather by the acclaimed novelist and nature writer, Melissa Harrison. Whenever rain falls, our countryside changes. Fields, farms, hills and hedgerows appear altered, the wildlife behaves differently, and over time the terrain itself is transformed. Blending her expeditions with reading, research, memory and imagination, Harrison reveals how rain is not just an essential element of the world around us, but a key part of our own identity too.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Under the tump : sketches of real life on the Welsh Borders / Oliver Balch.
“Hay-on-Wye is world famous as the Town of Books. But when travel writer Oliver Balch moved there, it was not just the books he was keen to read, but the people too. After living in London and Buenos Aires, what will he make of this tiny, quirky town on the Welsh-English border? To help guide him, he turns to Francis Kilvert, a Victorian diarist who captured the bucolic rural life of his day. Does anything of Kilvert’s world still exists? And could a newcomer ever feel they truly belong?” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

But what if we’re wrong? : thinking about the present as if it were the past / Chuck Klosterman.
“But What If We’re Wrong? visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who’ll perceive it as the distant past. Chuck Klosterman asks questions that are profound in their simplicity: How certain are we about our understanding of gravity? How certain are we about our understanding of time? What will be the defining memory of rock music, five hundred years from today? […] It’s about how we live now, once “now” has become “then”.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Gone wild : stories from a lifetime of wildlife travel / Malcolm Smith.
“Often amusing, sometimes romantic or fraught with danger, these 30 short stories are about local people, spectacular places and the special wildlife the author sets out to find. The stories include seeking out Arabian Oryx on the searing plains of the Saudi desert; eiderdown collecting in Iceland, crouching in swirling clouds and darkness on a knife-edge ridge in the rugged Madeiran mountains and swimming with Grey Seals off the Pembroke coast.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Epic bike rides of the world : explore the planet’s most thrilling cycling routes.
“Discover 200 of the best places to ride a bike in this beautifully illustrated hardback. From family-friendly, sightseeing urban rides to epic adventures off the beaten track. Destinations range from France and Italy, for the world’s great bike races, to the wilds of Mongolia and Patagonia. These journeys will inspire – whether you are an experienced cyclist or just getting started.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Trail enthusiasts should check out Walking to Camelot and The 50 Greatest Walks in the World. Alternately, The Road I Ride and Ticket to Ride both explore the thrills and pleasures of experiencing the world at a faster pace.

The 50 greatest walks of the world / Barry Stone.
“With walks that will appeal to everyone regardless of ability, The 50 Greatest Walks of the World includes American classics such as the Appalachian Trail, Buckskin Gulch, and the Bright Angel Trail to Phantom Ranch, as well as personal favourites such as Italy’s Cinque Terre Classic and the Isle of Skye’s Trotternish Ridge, one of Britain’s finest ridge traverses with almost 2,500m of ascents. Whether it’s a climb, a stroll, or a life-changing slog, this book has the walk for you.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

A boy of China : in search of Mao’s lost son / Richard Loseby.
“The author’s search for a son of Chinese leader Chairman Mao, who was abandoned by Mao in 1934 during the famous Long March. The search takes the author all over China, from Shanghai west to Tibet and Sichuan then to Jiangxi in the southeast. He describes the places he visits, his discoveries and his meetings with fascinating characters along the way.” (Syndetics summary)

Walking to Camelot : a pilgrimage through the heart of rural England / John A. Cherrington.
“John Cherrington and his 74-year-old walking companion set out one fine morning in May to traverse the only English footpath that cuts south through the rural heart of the country, a formidable path called the Macmillan Way. […] The historical merges with the magic of the footpath, with Cherrington making astute, often humorous observations on the social, cultural, and culinary mores of the English, all from a very North American perspective.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Performing indigenous culture on stage and screen : a harmony of frenzy / Marianne Schultz.
“Examining corporeal expressions of indigenousness from an historical perspective, this book highlights the development of cultural hybridity in New Zealand via the popular performing arts, contributing new understandings of racial, ethnic, and gender identities through performance. The author offers an insightful and welcome examination of New Zealand performing arts via case studies of drama, music, and dance, performed both domestically and internationally.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Accidentally Istanbul / Nancy Knudsen.
“Nancy Knudsen never meant to go to Istanbul. Maybe she might have included it as part of a holiday along with other dazzling European cities such as Venice, Paris or Salzburg. But the idea of actually living in a Muslim country as an ordinary citizen rather than tourist or expat corporate executive, would never have occurred to her. Knudsen’s story is vivid, lively and sometimes hilarious, full of insights into things she wished she’d known before she arrived with not a word of Turkish.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Ticket to ride : around the world on 49 unusual train journeys / Tom Chesshyre.
“Experience the world by train. Why do people love trains so much? Tom Chesshyre is on a mission to find the answer by experiencing the world through train travel – on both epic and everyday rail routes, aboard every type of ride, from steam locomotives to bullet trains, meeting a cast of memorable characters who share a passion for train travel. Join him on the rails and off the beaten track as he embarks on an exhilarating whistle-stop tour around the globe.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Voyager : travel writings / Russell Banks.
“The acclaimed, award-winning novelist takes us on some of his most memorable journeys in this revelatory collection of travel essays that spans the globe, from the Caribbean to Scotland to the Himalayas. Now in his mid-seventies, Russell Banks has indulged his wanderlust for more than half a century. […] Voyager brings together the social, the personal, and the historical, opening a path into the heart and soul of this revered writer.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Curiosity is celebrated by a few of this month’s picks. As Quiet Los Angeles reveals, curiosity may not be satisfied by the spectacular, but in small meditative acts and perceptions. Curiosity may also lead to darker realities that are often erased from tourist culture, explored with intensity in titles as divergent as The Fires of Spring, Zoroaster’s Children and The Interior Circuit.

Walking through spring : an English journey / Graham Hoyland.
“Walking Through Spring follows Graham Hoylands journey as he creates a new national trail, walking with the Spring from the south coast in March up to the border with Scotland, which he reaches on the longest day: the twenty-first of June. He connects a labyrinth of ancient footpaths, marking each mile by planting an acorn and drawing a path of oak trees that stretch through the English countryside. Hoyland draws inspiration from the vast literary landscape as he watches the season unfold across the country. What does Spring mean? Is it really getting earlier every year?” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The travels / Marco Polo ; translated and with an introduction and notes by Nigel Cliff.
“Marco Polo’s voyages began in 1271 with a visit to China. Afterward, he served Kublai Khan on numerous diplomatic missions in the Far East. His subsequent account of his travels offers a fascinating glimpse of what he encountered abroad: unfamiliar religions; new customs and societies; the spices and silks of the East; the precious gems, exotic vegetation, and wild beasts of faraway lands. […] Marco Polo’s book revolutionized Western ideas about the then-unknown East and remains one of the greatest travel accounts of all time.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The curious map book / Ashley Baynton-Williams.
“Ashley Baynton-Williams has unearthed a wide array of the whimsical and fantastic, from maps of board games to political ones, maps of the Holy Land to maps of the human soul. In his illuminating introduction, the author also identifies and expounds upon key themes of map production, peculiar styles, and the commerce and collection of unique maps. This incredible volume offers a wealth of gorgeous illustrations for anyone who is cartographically curious.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Perth : a guide for the curious / edited by Terri-Ann White.
“Where do you find a city’s soul? Terri-Ann White draws together an eclectic group of Perth people in this collection to share their insights on a rapidly evolving city. From an architect’s perspective on heritage to a historian’s ruminations on Perth’s swampy origins; from a walk down streets that don’t exist to Noongar place names; from the union movement to public art to criminal Perth to conversational Perth, this book encourages new encounters with the city.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The fires of spring : a post-Arab Spring journey through the turbulent new Middle East / Shelly Culbertson.
“The ‘Arab Spring’ all started when a young Tunisian fruit-seller set himself on fire in protest of a government official confiscating his apples without cause and slapping his face. The aftermath of that one personal protest grew to become the Middle East movement known as the Arab Spring — a wave of disparate events that included revolutions, protests, government overthrows, hopeful reform movements, and bloody civil wars. This book will be the first to bring the post Arab Spring world to light in a holistic context (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Quiet Los Angeles / Rebecca Razo ; photographs by Mark Mendez.
“Following from Quiet London, Paris and New York, comes Los Angeles, the next in the series discovering quiet places in the midst of some of the busiest cities in the world. These guides offer both visitors and locals a chance to enjoy the quiet side of these lively cities, to find places off the beaten track, explore enticing small museums or enjoy peaceful gardens. They offer the promise of somewhere to relax and recuperate, to have coffee and cake or a restful spot to unwind, away from the hustle and bustle.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The interior circuit : a Mexico City chronicle / Francisco Goldman.
“In the summer of 2013, when Mexican organized crime violence and death erupts in the city in an unprecedented way, Goldman sets out to try to understand the menacing challenges the city now faces. By turns exuberant, poetic, reportorial, philosophic, and urgent, The Interior Circuit fuses a personal journey to an account of one of the world’s most remarkable and often misunderstood cities.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Zoroaster’s children and other travels / Marius Kociejowski.
“Attracted to society’s outcasts–as it is these, he argues, which point towards an underground of conformity that will not contain them–Kociejowski offers ain these essays glimpses of locales as diverse and seemingly divergent as Prague, Tunisia, Moscow, Aleppo and Toronto, among others.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)